60 years of shifting trucks to rail
Six decades ago, the Swiss Bertschi Group was looking for a winter-proof route to efficiently transport chemical products from Germany, through the Alps, to Italy. At that time, there was no winter-safe pass road and no road tunnel through the Alps.
The company’s founder Hans Bertschi saw the solution in loading his chemical road tankers onto flatbed rail wagons, using the existing rail tunnel through the Gotthard. This revolutionary concept was implemented as an all-year market offering in the autumn of 1964.
Today, Bertschi is a major player in European intermodal transports of chemicals by rail, road, and waterway, owning a 46,000 tank and dry bulk containers, 1,000 trucks, 30 terminals and 76 subsidiaries in 39 countries. (ben)